I'm starting to think that /RDM is going to pull ahead in leaps and bounds. At present, with some decent work, it's possible to get a full 350 hp stoneskin (I'm currently at a 341 stoneskin, and most of my gear for it is NQ Yes... I even bought an Adaman JUST for this...). Add to that the boosting items, and we've got a good chunk of defense right there. We also pickup Phalanx, which will help that stoneskin last a touch longer, aquaveil, making a 102% SID possible, refresh and convert, for even more self-reliant MP regeneration, and bind/blind, an awesome pairing of CE and VE boosters. Enspells will also help out quite a bit, boosting our ability to deal damage. The only downside of enspells, of course, is that they're enmity free, but I'll take some extra damage output anyday. /RDM will have near the survivability that /NIN has with better hate tools.

I think /NIN will have a better place in a SCH/RDM or RDM/SCH party. There, a lot of the benefits listed above will be given to everyone at once. This is going to be a great benefit for everyone and will allow us to go Joy/Justice or Organics/Joy much more frequently and with greater abandon than we do now. However, we'd really need to up our DD output in order to get the most tanking out of what we're doing if we do end up going this route - the DD's get the same benefit, so we'll need every edge we can get.

Personally, I think /WAR is done for. Neither method above is truly "bloodtanking," as there are alternatives to losing the hp directly. /WAR won't add much. Defender will become more and more useless unless SE finally fixes the defense formula. Until they do, though, /WAR will become a toy sub in the late game, just like it is in our current end game.

Edit: As for Campaign... I really don't see Campaign staying viable. Sure, it's a good source of guaranteed XP, but battles will go a LOT faster when a level 80 shows up, let alone a bunch of 99's. When they only thing you're worried about tanking is the NM (and only slightly at that), more people are going to show up. And the more that show up, the faster the battle becomes, until you're only out there for 3-5 minutes per battle if you showed up at the beginning. Unless SE has plans for this (and I hope they don't just involve "Let's just up the level of the mobs, then!"), I think Campaign is going to go downhill.

A swordchuck DD PLD is a beast at 75. There's no reason it won't be great for a fair while after. The only real concern is whether the 'chucks can keep up with newer weapons, but putting a level 76+ sword in the main hand will probably alleviate this.

And, of course, you could always just do all your EXPing synced to 75, although the boost from Dual Wield III at 90 will take /NIN+suppa from one free swing in four to almost one free swing every two, which is huge.

The bottom line, though is that PLD has the highest base skill with the game's best 1h weapon, and access to as good a DD gearset as any other job. If a PLD doesn't need to tank to merit a 75 (and, he doesn't), then a PLD won't need to tank to reach 99.

I was always under the impression that pld/sam using a great sword was better at DD than using swords.

As for sword being best 1h weapon, I would say no, I think axe is probably better (on a like for like basis)

I am however very interested in the new ways we will all xp towards 99, I myself have many unloved jobs. /whm would be an interesting choice for pld at least at the 80cap, haste and decent cures, add that to plds decent rate of mp recovery it might make pld a DD that can also support the pty kind of like a more fighty whm.

In terms of DD, pld is just not what people want. However the job can potentially bring so much more to the table when level cap rises, I wouldnt be surprised if some odd pty set ups ended up happening.

Imagine an odd pty set up of say, 4x pld/sam 1x pld/whm and 1x brd. For 80 cap, you have your hastes and marches and healing magic, and also a source of dia, and you will be bringing 5xDD along to the pty. Haste, 2xMarch, Hasso, 5x Flash, Third Eye, with 5mp pools each with some refresh on for cures.

I was always under the impression that pld/sam using a great sword was better at DD than using swords.

As for sword being best 1h weapon, I would say no, I think axe is probably better (on a like for like basis)

With the exception of Joyeuse and Justice Sword, I'd agree with you. But, double attack weapons that either require ammo (justice) or nothing (joyeuse) are amazing. Company also has few rivals, and Organics is a good DD sword, as well.

Kevanff wrote:

I am however very interested in the new ways we will all xp towards 99, I myself have many unloved jobs. /whm would be an interesting choice for pld at least at the 80cap, haste and decent cures, add that to plds decent rate of mp recovery it might make pld a DD that can also support the pty kind of like a more fighty whm.

Umm.... What? Decent cures? How will it get better for us than it already is? We won't get access to V, we already have the others, and thanks to the soft AND hard cap on cures, /WHM won't add a thing to our curing power. Just a mediocre amount of mp. Sure, we'd get haste, but we'll get that with /RDM, too, albeit just a little later, but /RDM could Refresh and Convert, packs Phalanx, and would generally be all around better than /WHM. Biggest thing /WHM would add would be Reraise, but if they pack mobs with Dispel, I'd rather have that item based, anyway.

Kevanff wrote:

In terms of DD, pld is just not what people want. However the job can potentially bring so much more to the table when level cap rises, I wouldnt be surprised if some odd pty set ups ended up happening.

Imagine an odd pty set up of say, 4x pld/sam 1x pld/whm and 1x brd. For 80 cap, you have your hastes and marches and healing magic, and also a source of dia, and you will be bringing 5xDD along to the pty. Haste, 2xMarch, Hasso, 5x Flash, Third Eye, with 5mp pools each with some refresh on for cures.

I think that would make a pretty interesting pty.

It might be an interesting party, but I've got the feeling they'll be giving us even more Shield updates as we go along to encourage the use of Shields over GS, making it moot. Sure, you can get quite a bit of DD out of a GS as a PLD, but the right Sword/Board or Sword/Sword combo are incredible. And, in terms of DD, it's the job traits we miss out on that really set us back - all native job traits/abilities for PLD are defensive in nature. Compare that to all the other jobs that hit the DD slots. But, as has been pointed out elsewhere, PLD can pack some impressive punches. Just watch what happens if they don't adjust the skill-gaps between weapon skills.

Kind of suprised Dracoth gave the Pld/Rdm option but not the Pld/Dnc. Combined with Joyeuse I would prefer Pld/Dnc. The weak voke, instant cast heals,status recovery, Sambas if there is no Dnc, acc bonus ...

I personally haven't felt much of a "tanking" feeling when using /DNC. Yes, I've done it. I typically go that route in Campaign, but that's the only place I really felt like it was working to my benefit. And that's because I get XP for everything I do on it, compared to /RDM where the essence of /RDM'ing decreases my XP gain in campaign. Marginally, sure, since I've capped every time I've gone either. In the field, /RDM seems to me to have more survivability AND damage output - proper use of enspells is amazing, especially coupled with Joy. Too bad they're hateless.

As far as hate is concerned, /RDM far trumps /DNC or /WAR, and that's before you factor in the CE loss through blood tanking. Bind, Blind, Dispel, and Sleep are just THAT powerful. Anyway, it's definitely a bias of mine. I prefer /RDM to /NIN, now, too, although I still do the "big" fights on /NIN.

The bottom line, though is that PLD has the highest base skill with the game's best 1h weapon

I assume you're talking about joytoy there? might I direct your attention to this little beauty http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?fitem=3775 Of course PLD can't use it, but it still murders Joytoy so your broad statement calling it the best in the game is still false. You might add the words "For PLD" in the future.

Edit: As for Campaign... I really don't see Campaign staying viable. Sure, it's a good source of guaranteed XP, but battles will go a LOT faster when a level 80 shows up, let alone a bunch of 99's. When they only thing you're worried about tanking is the NM (and only slightly at that), more people are going to show up. And the more that show up, the faster the battle becomes, until you're only out there for 3-5 minutes per battle if you showed up at the beginning. Unless SE has plans for this (and I hope they don't just involve "Let's just up the level of the mobs, then!"), I think Campaign is going to go downhill.

Edited, Mar 18th 2010 4:23pm by Dracoth

True enough, But we have seen SE "Balance" camapin mobs enough to know that when the populus gains lvls so will the mobs. And god forbid we fight some lvl 110 NM in campain battles... The 75s who fell behind wont stand a lick of a chance.

____________________________

Nihcru @ Bahamut PLD 75 /Salute... The sword held high with virtue and might, A Shield in hand protecting what's right, Through Darkest night may valor shine bright, May Goddess Altana bless you with her light.

The bottom line, though is that PLD has the highest base skill with the game's best 1h weapon

I assume you're talking about joytoy there? might I direct your attention to this little beauty http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?fitem=3775 Of course PLD can't use it, but it still murders Joytoy so your broad statement calling it the best in the game is still false. You might add the words "For PLD" in the future.